You Can't Hurry Love
by RocketRaccoon15
Summary: A few months after the battle with Ronan, the Guardians continue on their journey through the galaxy, but what will happen when a romance blooms between two of the members? Rated T for language and violence. Cancelled. Going to be rewritten.
1. You Can't Hurry Love

It had been a few months, since the battle with Ronan. The Milano was fixed, all of their criminal records; expunged, and a new team of 'heroes', a family, was formed. Pretty happy, right? Actually, no. Although most of the Guardians had gradually gained the light back in their eyes, some of them, one in particular, hadn't.

Peter danced in the room below the cockpit, as he blasted the music up to Rocket and Groot as they piloted the fixed ship.

"Turn that down, Quill!" Rocket yelled down.

Peter ignored him and kept dancing. He then looked over at Gamora, who was seated on the couch closest to him, staring off into space. He smiled. He moonwalked over to her and held out his hand. _"You can't hurry love. No, you just have to wait. She said love don't come easy. It's a game of give and take."_ He started to sing along. Gamora shot him a dirty look. Needless to say, he backed off. _Lesson #1: Don't piss of the most dangerous woman in the galaxy._ He learned that a few weeks ago, when she almost broke his arm. He still didn't understand that day. All he did was say she looked beautiful! Why was that so bad?

Whether or not it was bad, something still wasn't adding up. Although Peter didn't know Gamora as well as he hoped to by now, he knew one thing; something was wrong. He sat next to her on the grungy blue couch. "You okay?" He asked.

"Fine. You need to replace this couch. It's disgusting." She got up, only to feel a hand securing hers. At first, she did not think about it. But when she did, she couldn't deny that it felt good to have someone there for her. What was she saying? She didn't need anybody! She could overcome anything on her own, even if it was PTSD from the battle. She yanked her arm away and slapped Peter across his cheek. He immediately started to rub it, as if it would make the pain go away. "Touch me again, I will kick you. And where I aim, won't feel very good." She pivoted on her foot and walked towards the cabins, but when she reached hers, something didn't feel right. It felt like her heart sunk into the pit of her stomach. Why did she feel this way? Did she just do something she regretted? I mean, Peter was only trying to help her. Why did she think that was so bad? Nevermind. What happened, happened. There's a reason for everything, right? No matter what, she couldn't think straight. Maybe, a hot shower would help.

* * *

Peter was still rubbing his cheek and getting his mind through what just happened. Again, what did he do that mad her so frickin' mad? He was only trying to be a good friend...right? Or was he trying to be something more? What is he talking about? He doesn't like Gamora in that way. At least not with the way she acts towards him all the time. Then again, maybe that's what makes her so much more interesting. And interesting was dangerous to Peter. It was clear that she did not like him at all. She always gave him dirty looks, and hits him! But, I guess she wouldn't be Gamora, if she didn't go five minutes without hitting somebody. But, then, there were those rare times. She would smile at him. There was nothing dangerous about the smiles, they came from pure happiness. But, then again, it seemed like she was rarely happy.

Gamora turned the knob, that sat underneath the shower nozzle. She closed her eyes for a moment, thinking about why she slapped Peter. Maybe, she secretly liked the attention she was getting from Peter. But, if that was the case, he was a womanizer. Maybe, her mind try to snap her back to reality. And furthermore, who would ever dare to love and care for an assassin? She did nothing but, kill innocent people for the majority of her life. Who could love that? Yet, she didn't really know the meaning of love, or if it existed. Was it just a myth in the stories her mother and father once told her? She opened her eyes to see that the water coming from the shower nozzle wasn't water, it was blood. She screamed. Before she knew it, she was back in her clothes, but she wasn't in the shower anymore. She was at the Sanctuary, standing next to her fath...Thanos. Four people were kneeling before them. What was strange; they looked oddly familiar. It wasn't then, until she realized from the one covered in fur from head to toe, to the one who she had slapped this morning, that they were the Guardians! Her...friends. But why were they here? Why was _she_ here? Thanos handed her beloved Godslayer to her. _Kill_ them. A voice echoed. "No. No. No! I won't! I'm not going to do it!" She yelled, as the mad titan, laughed evilly. _If you won't, I will._ The voice echoed, again. The next thing she knew, Sakaarans gathered around her friends. "No, no!" She screamed. She saw her friends, lying limp on the ground. A screech came from her but, it sounded so inhuman.

Suddenly, she was back in the bathroom, in the shower. No more blood, just the purest of all clear water. She was on the floor of the shower. She heard the door open but, couldn't bear to look. She heard footsteps, faintly rushing towards her and the shower knob turning. That's weird, if the shower was turned off why are there water droplets still pouring down her face. She felt a towel being placed on top of her. She couldn't help but, look up at who was helping her. It was Peter. Of all the people on this ship, it was Peter. She looked at him and was shocked with the expression. He had just saw her naked and there was nothing sexual or flirtatious shown in his eyes. Instead, there was fear and hurt. Why was he so upset? Maybe, he finally saw her for her true self. But then, why was he helping her?

He walked her to her cabin and wiped the water droplets from her eyes. It wasn't until then, she realized she was crying. "Are you okay?" He asked. Gamora looked around to see the rest of the Guardians looking at her with the same amount of concern. She nodded and the rest of the Guardians, knowing that Peter could handle her, hopefully, left Peter to talk to her.

* * *

When they entered her cabin, Gamora sat on her bed. There wasn't much in there, besides a queen-size bed, fitted with plain white sheets and a dresser. Peter hesitantly sat next to her, hoping that she wouldn't slap him, again. "What happened?" He asked. "I was listening to my music, then I heard you scream, twice. I thought, something really bad had happened." She gave him a dirty look...again. "Not that, what happened to you wasn't bad, but, I thought it was worse."

Gamora sighed, knowing she had kept this from her team long enough. "PTSD." Peter looked her in the eyes. "I have been feeling guilty of what I did, most of my life. Now, after we defeated Ronan, it seems like that guilt only grew."

"Shouldn't have it been the other way around? Shouldn't you have felt less guilty?" Peter asked, confused.

"I don't know."

"I'm guessing this had something to do with the whole bathroom thing."

"I'm still confused on why you, of all people, came to help me."

"I'll explain, when you do." Gamora rolled her eyes.

"Do you have to act so childish all the time?" Peter just stared at her. Gamora sighed. "I don't know exactly what happened. It was some kind of vision. First, I opened my eyes to see I was showering in blood. Then, I was standing next to my fath...Thanos. Then, you guys were kneeling before us." She started to talk faster with each sentence she said, as tears spilled from her eyes. "He gave me my Godslayer and told me to kill you guys. I said no and he did it for me. Then, I seemed to be back in reality." When she stopped talking she noticed her towel was soaked in tears.

Peter hesitantly leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her. "You're safe, I promise." Gamora was shocked by his actions but, soon returned the gesture. For a moment, they just sat there in each other's embrace. Peter could tell Gamora was waiting for his explanation. "I don't know why I did it. I guess I just wanted to be the one to make sure you were okay. I knew Drax, Rocket and Groot would've done it in a heartbeat, but for some reason I felt like it had to be me."

Gamora chuckled, tears still weakly leaking from her eyes, and placed her head hesitantly on Peter's shoulder. "You are so dramatic, Peter."

"Me?" Peter looked at her. "What about you? You hit me for no reason!"

Gamora chuckled again. "I have my reasons, but I will not share them with you." At least, not yet...


	2. Troubled Times, Trouble Nights

It's been days since Peter and Gamora talked, maybe even weeks. The only reason they would talk was if they were on a mission. They hadn't talked about what happened between them that one night. It was still strange to think that someone would ever care for an assassin. But, just because they didn't talk to each other, didn't mean they didn't communicate in other ways. They would do small things, such as smile at each other when nobody was looking or walk beside each other as their fingertips brushed. At some points Gamora would open her mouth to say something and nothing would come out. But, the weird silent treatment didn't last for long.

* * *

Gamora lay on her bed with her knees curled up to her chest, in a deep sleep. She was dreaming about Peter, about all of the adventures they had so far, about the time they almost kissed on Knowhere, when he saved her from the freezing cold vacuum of space, those multiple times when he tried to get her to dance, when he helped her out of the shower when she had a panic attack. She dreamt about how comfortable she felt around him, how safe he made her feel, even though she wouldn't admit it out loud. "Peter." She muttered. A smile formed on her lips. Suddenly, the dream quickly turned dark. The smile on her lips flipped upside down to a frown, and she started to toss and turn, as images of Peter going through complete hell appeared through her mind. "Peter." She muttered a little louder, as her eyes squeezed tightly.

Peter lay on his bed, almost asleep. He was listening to his mix tapes. He heard Gamora mutter his name, mind you his bed is right next to hers on the opposite side of the thin, metal wall. At first he thought she was calling for him. He got out of bed and walked next door to her room. The door wasn't shut all the way. Without looking inside, he made a soft knock on the door. "Gamora? You okay?" No response. Maybe, she was just dreaming. The next thing he heard was Gamora's bed squeaking. He peaked in the room and saw her tossing and turn, viciously. He ran into the room, whispering her name, trying to calm her down. Now, she was starting to yell his name. He put a hand over her mouth and used his other hand to restrain her wrist from hitting him as she flailed around. "Gamora." He whispered. He started to softly shake her. "Gamora." He whispered, again. She shot up on her bed. It was clear that she was sweating, as her hair and black tank top were soaked. She started to pant and look around the room. "Hey, you okay?"

Gamora nodded. She was so embarrassed that Peter saw her having a nightmare, especially since it was about him. "I just had a nightmare. Really, i'm alright."

Peter stared at her. "I heard you saying my name. Was it really serious?"

Gamora sighed and shook her head. "This is so embarrassing. Yes, it was about you and yes, it was very serious."

"Why are you embarrassed?" He chuckled and quickly returned to being serious.

"You would understand if you were in my position."

"I know. Being raised to be an assassin, not really fun."

"Tell me about it. I used to have nightmares all of the time, all of my...siblings would laugh when I awoke. I'd get a beating each time I cried, whether it was in my sleep or not."

"Talk about shitty parenting. You deserve much more than that." He sat next to her on the bed.

"Thanks, Peter but, after all I've done-"

"No. Don't talk like that anymore." He said in a stern voice. He gripped her shoulders firmly but, not tight enough to where it hurt. "I forbid it. As your awesome leader and friend, I order you to not talk such none sense." He said, partially joking.

"Jesus, you sound like Drax." Gamora chuckled. She starting cracking her fingers and stared off into space without noticing Peter still being there and staring into her eyes.

"Gamora?"

She snapped back into reality and looked at Peter. "Yes?"

He looked at her hair, which was in sloppy braid with loose hairs sticking out on both sides. He turned to her back and took her hair out of the braid. Gamora was about to asked what he was doing, but him playing with her hair felt so good. She hummed and leaned into his touch. He smiled softly and started to re-braid it. His touch was gentle, unlike his roughhousing, childlike nature. Her heart started to race with each strand of hair he grabbed. She wasn't sure what the feeling was but, in a way she kind of liked it. She then started to realize something. Was she falling, falling for Peter? No, it couldn't be. There's no such thing as love. Such nonsense does not exist. Then again, what if it did? Peter had finished braided her hair and turned to face her.

"There." He said with a proud smile. "You look-" He thought about what happened the last time he called her beautiful. He did not want to make that same mistake.

"Beautiful?" Gamora asked.

"Um...yes." He replied in shock. "You aren't going to hit me?"

"I'll think about it." She said with a chuckle.

He chuckled along with her. He felt awkward just sitting there though. He started to get up. "Well, if you don't need anything else, i'm going to head back to bed." He said gesturing to the door with his thumb.

"Oh, yes. Of course." Gamora gave him a soft but, hurt smile. "Peter?" She called to him, right before he started to exit. He turned around to her, raising an eyebrow. "Um, can you-" She thought about her choice of words. "You know what, nevermind. It was stupid, anyway."

Peter looked at her in confusion. "No, i'm sure it wasn't stupid. What'd ya want?"

She played with her fingers, obviously looking nervous. Wait, since when was Gamora, the deadliest woman in the galaxy, nervous? "Peter, I am going to admit something to you and if you tell the others about it, I will snap your neck." Ah, there she was. Peter seemed nervous at the threat, but walked over to her. "Peter, I have a...fear."

Peter let out a snort, but, then quickly regretted it. "Sorry." Gamora rolled her eyes. "Gam," She gave him a death stare at the name. "Gamora, you don't need to be embarrassed about that either. Everyone has fears. It's nothing to feel ashamed of. Now, what's your fear?"

Gamora took in a deep breath. "I'm afraid of losing you." She regretted what she said, but added on. "And of course, the rest of the Guardians; Rocket, Groot, Drax." He looked at her with an expressionless face. _'Oh shit, I broke him.'_ She thought. "But, for some reason, I feel like I've grown closest to you. Peter, yes, of course they understand me, but, you, I don't know what the word is." Peter was confused. She took his hand and held it, as she bit her lip trying to think of the word. "Care? I mean they care, too. It just seems like you care about me more than anyone else."

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know why!"

"Gamora, you know I've never judged you for who you were before. Why do you think I would?"

"Everyone else does."

"Since when do you care what other people think about you?

"I don't know it's stupid."

"You shouldn't."

"I really don't care as much as what they think as I do with you. I don't want to lose you."

"I don't want to lose you either and we won't I promise."

Gamora was silent for a moment. "Peter?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you stay with me until I fall asleep? I'm-"

"Afraid?" Gamora nodded silently, embarrassed, as she felt defeated. "Of course." The two toss and turned until they found a comfortable position. They were facing each other. Peter was practically hugging her, Gamora's head on his chest. He had his left arm under her neck, playing with her hair. His other arm around her middle, holding her close. "Always." He whispered in her ear. She smiled and nuzzled into him. Soon, Gamora was passed out in his arms. It was the best feeling in the world. He didn't know why he felt like this. It was probably because she was unlike any woman he met. Was it true? Was he fooling around and falling in love? Either way, he knew he would be making his mother proud, no longer sleeping with random girls and leaving the next morning. He gave Gamora a soft butterfly kiss on her cheek. He saw her smile get bigger. "I'm not letting you go, I promise." He hugged her closer. Yup, no way he was letting her go.


	3. The Siren Necklace

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed this story so far! I hope you are enjoying it! Here is the next chapter, enjoy! I also put a twist to the story, in which the Sirens are evil. I had also decided for them to live in a marshy area, therefore, I chose A-Chiltar as their home world.**

* * *

Gamora's eyes flutter open as she notices the handsome man sound asleep next to her; his arm tangled in her hair and his other arm resting on her middle. They must have shifted in their sleep, because Gamora noticed she was even closer to Peter. His nose was nuzzled in her hair. She actually found it kinda...cute. Without realizing, she nuzzled more into his chest. Big mistake. She didn't move a muscle, as he opened his eyes and softly smiled at her. "Hey." He whispered, as he picked his head up enough to see her.

"Hey." She whispered back, still not moving.

"Sleep well?" Gamora nodded. "Good." Peter put his head back.

"Peter, friends can lay like this together and fall asleep, right?" Peter seemed hurt by those words. He was starting to think that he liked Gamora more than a friend. Oh, the hell with it. Who was he kidding? He didn't think he liked Gamora that way, he knew he did. He may even lov-. He couldn't even finish the word for some reason.

"Oh, yeah. We do it all the time." He said awkwardly, clearing his throat. He could see the hurt in her eyes, as well. Did she feel the same? At some points if felt like it, but, at other times, it seemed as if she hated his ass.

"Well, um, we should probably get up. Don't want to get teased by Rocket all day." Gamora said as she got out of bed.

Peter got up as well. Gamora had just noticed that he wore nothing besides a pair of grey sweatpants. She glanced at his abs, then looked away quickly, trying to hide the blush from her cheeks. Peter smirked a little when he saw her blushing. Gamora, who was embarrassed, quickly stormed out of the room, leaving a smirking Peter watching her backside.

* * *

A few hours later, Peter had called the Guardians into the meeting area of the ship. He stood in front of a hologram, projecting an object that looked like a necklace with an object attached that resembled a scallop. Peter turned around, as the Guardians walked in. Everyone took their rightful seats and turned their attention towards Peter.

"We have just received a distress call from Nova Prime." Peter pointed to the object on the projection. "This is the Siren Necklace. Its use is to enable the weird, mermaid-looking folk, known as the Sirens, to use their voices to lure men to them and well...they kill them." Peter lost his train of thought, as shivered at the thought of being lured to death. "Anyways, Nova Prime had this object safely secured with the Nova Corps. and apparently, their security wasn't good enough, since it was stolen and returned to A-Chiltar. Now, the Sirens are, once again, luring men to their deaths. Prime wants us to safely return the necklace to them."

"How much are we talking here?" Rocket asked with a smirk.

Gamora rolled her eyes. "Does it matter?"

"Yeah, it does."

"I am Groot." Groot chimed in. He was now fully grown and able to help them on missions again.

"Stop lying. You care how much you get paid." Rocket snapped at him.

"Five hundred units. I figured that gives everyone, a hundred each." Peter finally announced.

"Really?" Rocket said with disappointment.

"Dude, they're still building like half of Xandar; of course we're not going to get paid a lot of units. The mission isn't even going to be that difficult."

"Peter, you're missing the point. The mission is more difficult than you think. Remember what you said? The part when you said that they lure men and kill them, with their voices? You also forgot that there are three men on this ship." Gamora said, looking into his eyes longer than necessary.

"Four! Groot's a guy, right?"

"I wasn't talking about Groot."

"I'm a guy!"

"Mm-hmm, sure."

"I do not understand, is Peter a male? Why are you assuming that he is otherwise?" Drax asked.

"Nevermind, it still doesn't matter. The point is, you guys need to be careful."

"Come on, I can withstand them." Gamora just glared at him. "Let's just get going, okay?"

* * *

Soon, the Guardians had finally landed on A-Chiltar. It was definitely a marshy planet. Most of the planet was covered with them. The sky was cloudy and there was fog everywhere, especially over the marshes. Trees with dangling vines covered most of the remaining land, which made it hard for Peter to land. Once they did, Peter immediately put on his headphones and started to head out with the rest of the guys, until a familiar touch stopped him.

"Peter, i'm serious; be careful." Gamora said with worry showing in her eyes.

"Don't worry, I will. By the way, I think it's really adorable how you care so much." That comment pissed Gamora off, as she punched him in the shoulder after he spoke. "Ow."

"I..I do care; all of the time. How dare you say that!" She stuttered. Why was she stuttering? She never stuttered.

"Never said you didn't and it was a compliment. You're so offensive all the time, you need to chill."

"No, Peter. I don't. Just be careful." She said quickly, before exiting the Milano.

* * *

Peter lead the Guardians to a marsh that was covered with the most fog. "So where is this necklace?" Rocket asked with disgust, as he looked at the dirty water that he could barely see. "Please don't tell me it's under there." Peter didn't respond. "Yo, Pete!" Rocket slapped his leg. Peter took the headphones off. "Where is the necklace, Dipshit?"

"Under the water. We need to swim underneath and grab it."

"Which I will do, on my own." Gamora added, as she put on a mask and started to walk into the marsh.

"Gamora, you're not doing this on your own." Peter called to her.

"Cover me." She responded before diving underwater.

"Gam!" Peter rolled his eyes. "Can't she listen for once."

 _"I heard that!"_ A female voice said through his intercom.

"Maybe she is right, Quill. She will not be affected by the vocals of the Sirens. It will only be wise to have her retrieve it." Drax added.

Peter rolled his eyes and pressed a small button on his intercom, as he talked. "Just be careful, keep us updated and tell us when you need help."

 _"Won't need it."_

Peter rolled his eyes again and signaled for the rest of the Guardians to get in their positions. Underneath the water, Gamora looked around for the necklace. So far, she hadn't seen a Siren yet, and she wanted to keep it that way. She eventually came across the necklace. It looked identical to the one Peter had projected on the hologram. The necklace laid on a stone pedestal that was covered in moss. She quickly grabbed it and started to return to the surface.

 _"Peter, I got it. I'm heading up."_

"Okay. Any Sirens?"

 _"No, shockingly."_

Peter turned to the Guardians. "Something isn't right." He pressed the button again on his intercom. "Keep you're eyes peeled, you don't know when a Siren will appear." Before Drax could ask, Peter held up a hand. "Idiom, Drax."

 _"Peter, I will. Stop worry-"_ A gasp came through Peter's intercom, then static.

"Gamora? Gam? Hello? Gamora!" Peter ran towards the water. He took his jacket off and jumped into the marsh.

"He's going to frickin' kill himself because of the love he has for Green Girl!" Rocket exclaimed, running his claws through his fur.

* * *

Under the water, Gamora was caught by surprise, when a Siren grabbed her leg. She whipped around as the intercom flew out of her ear and landed on the floor of the marsh. She grabbed her Godslayer and swung it at the Siren, still keeping a tight grip on the necklace. The Siren dodged it and let out a screech. It dove towards her. Gamora dodged it, dropping her Godslayer. "Shit!" She exclaimed. She dove down to get it. As she reached for it, she realized she'd dropped her com and it broke. "This day couldn't get any worse." Then again, it could. Out of nowhere, the Siren scratched Gamora's leg. She screamed in pain and dropped her Godslayer again. She kicked the Siren, trying to forget about the throbbing pain coming from the bottom of her opposite leg. But just as she least expected it, another Siren cut the strap of her mask and it fell off. The more she tried to fight them off, the more came. She was running out of time and breath, so she started to swim back to the surface, leaving her Godslayer at the bottom of the marsh. She had been in the water for five minutes already without a mask and she started to lose consciousness. _'I have to keep my eyes open. I have to keep going. I have to give this to Peter. Peter, I have to-'_ Before she could finish her thought, everything went black.

"Gamora? Gamora!" Peter yelled through his mask and music. Thank God his Walkman and headphones were waterproof. He finally found her slowly sinking to the bottom, with a gaping gash on her leg, as the Sirens started to surround her. He took out one of his quad blasters and blasted towards the Sirens, scaring them away. He swam towards Gamora, picking her up, bridal style and grabbing her Godslayer along the way.

Once they got to the surface, Peter laid her on the ground. He pressed the button on the side of his mask, revealing his face. "Here! Get this to the ship and get it running!" He ordered as he threw the necklace to Rocket. Rocket nodded and ran to the ship, Groot and Drax following behind him. Peter checked her breathing. She wasn't. His heart started to race, as he checked for her pulse. There was one, but it was weak. "Jesus Gamora, don't leave me!" He began chest compressions. Still not breathing. "You're gonna kill for this if...when you wake up." He tilted her head back and plugged her nose. He put his mouth to hers and breathed into her. She still wasn't breathing. He tried again. Still, nothing. Peter started to give chest compressions again. "Come on, Gam. Just frickin' breathe!" A faint coughing came from the body below him. He stopped compressions and watched her cough up water. "Gam."

"Peter? You saved my life." She said in a hoarse voice.

"I know. I have to admit you scared me there."

Gamora chuckled weakly and suddenly, screeched in pain. Crap, she forgot about that.

Peter looked over at her leg; it was bleeding severely. "Jesus, Gamora. What the hell happened?"

"I got scratched by that son of a bitch."

Peter had to admit those ugly-ass mermaids had some pretty frickin' sharp talons, that they have for nails. So sharp, that even a person, as strong and stable as Gamora, couldn't handle the pain that came from it. "You're gonna need that checked out." He said. Peter ran over to his jacket and brought it back to Gamora. He ripped off part of the fabric, inside and tied it tightly around Gamora's wound. She cried out in agony.

"Peter-" She panted. "Your jacket."

"It's fine. I needed a new one anyway." He gave her a weak smile and carefully picked her up, bridal style, carrying her to the ship.


	4. Wounded

Peter hated hospitals. His past experiences have not gone so well. The last person he waited for in a hospital had died in a manner of minutes. That being his own mother. So far, it wasn't so bad. Xandarian hospitals were a lot different from Terran hospitals. They were more technological and advanced. If you were waiting for someone in surgery, and you had permission, they would allow you to see them through the one way glass that separated the patients and doctors from the visitors. Other than that, nothing was new. You could hear the beeping from other rooms, intercoms going on and off, doctors yelling orders around and the screams and cries of agony when visitors realize that the patient they were waiting for had passed on. He really wanted to leave, he truly did. He didn't feel comfortable here, but this was Gamora. The person who has risked her life multiple times for him, the person who always deals with his obnoxious attitude and irritating flirts. The only woman who ever succeeded at seeing him for who he really was and accepting it. The only woman who would ever give him a second chance. He couldn't leave her.

They had reached the hospital on Xandar about a day after the incident. Gamora was unconscious when they brought her in and lost too much blood. At first, the doctors had almost lost hope, seeing the amount of blood she had lost. But, Gamora was a fighter. She'd pull through, right? It had been three days since her surgery and she was still unconscious. Peter hadn't left her side, since.

He knew what he was doing was unhealthy; he didn't sleep or eat anything. He just sat in the same plastic, white chair, that was next to Gamora's hospital bed, and waited for her to awaken. He couldn't stand to see her so...weak. She was always a warrior, a fighter. She was always so headstrong and passionate, but now, she wasn't, or at least it looked that way. Peter grabbed her hand and rubbed his thumb across the back of it.

As for Rocket, Groot, and Drax; they needed money. They may have accidentally gambled it all away at a bar that was close to the hospital. They decided that while Peter stayed with Gamora, they would regain the units they lost, somehow...

* * *

It wasn't until later that night, when Peter was asleep, when he felt something shifting around in the bed. He opened his eyes and saw Gamora wide awake and looking at him. She slowly lowered her gaze to their intertwined hands. To his surprise, she squeezed his hand softly, instead of pulling it away. "Hey." She whispered.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty." He greeted back with a chuckle. She raised a weak hand to his head and slapped him. "Ow."

"Got anything else idiotic to say?" She asked with a small laugh.

"Yes, actually." She rolled her eyes playfully. "You see when I saved you, I had to give you mouth to mouth and I thought I would've been dead by now." She slapped him weakly again. "Ow, or that."

She chuckled a little. "Thank you."

"Thank you? Why are you thanking me? This is the part where you put your precious knife to my throat and accuse me of using, wait what do you call it? Pelvic sorcery?"

Gamora chuckled again. "No. You saved my life and i'm grateful for that. Thank you, Peter." She gazed into his eyes unsure of what she was about to do was right or wrong. She decided to do it anyway. Gamora sat up weakly, leaned in and gave Peter a butterfly kiss on his cheek. Then, slowly, she planted an actual kiss there. She slowly sat back down.

"Gamora? Did you just kiss me?" Peter asked rhetorically with a wide smirk across his face.

"I didn't kiss you. I merely showed my profound gratitude." She replied with just as big of a smirk.

"Then, what do you call that?"

"A friendly gesture."

"Can you remind me what a kiss is? I forgot?" Peter asked leaning into Gamora. She started to lean in as well. Their lips were merely centimeters apart when-

"Hey, hey! We got units!" Rocket yelled, as he barged into the room.

Peter and Gamora slowly backed away from each other.

"Units for you." Rocket threw units at Groot. "And you." And Drax. "And you." And Peter. "And, hey Gamora! You're awake! Isn't this great? We just made a ton of units!"

"Is Rocket drunk?" Peter asked Drax.

"I am afraid so." Drax muttered under his breath, shaking his head.

"Rocket! Go to bed!" Gamora yelled.

"Ugh, fine. But, only because we're CELEBRATING!" Rocket walked out of the room. "Woo!" He yelled from across the hall.

"I will make sure he gets to the Milano." Drax whispered, following the very intoxicated raccoon.

"I am Groot." Groot said following the two.

The automatic door finally closed.

"Where were we?" Peter asked, as he started to lean into Gamora, again.

Gamora laid down and rolled over to the other side, ignoring the pain in her leg. "I'm tired. Goodnight, Peter."

"Wait, what just happened?"

"I said goodnight, Peter." Gamora closed her eyes.

"What's going on right now?"

"Peter, shut up and go to sleep!" She snapped.

"Fine." He responded, clearly getting hurt.

Gamora was almost in tears. Why did she just do that? She knows Peter loves her, but when he tried to kiss her, why did she refuse? She regretted what she did. She regretted _everything_ she did to him; when she put the knife to his throat on Knowhere, the numerous times she punched, kicked, and hit him and those numerous times she felt like she was ready to tell him how she really felt towards him, but didn't have the guts to do so. What if he's the same 'Star-Lord' she was told about before she left the Dark Aster to find him? The same womanizing 'Star-Lord'? What if he's just being kind to her so he could use his pelvic sorcery on her? However, he forgave her for her past mistakes. She should forgive him. Then it finally came to her; the reason why she cared so much, the reason why it'd hurt to hurt him, the reason why her heart always felt like it would sink to her stomach when Peter was crowded with beautiful exotic girls, it was because she loved him. But it wasn't just that; she was in love with him. But, did she even know what love was? She would tell Peter soon, about her feelings, she would. It was just a matter of _when_.


	5. Home

Two days after Gamora regained consciousness, she was finally allowed to be discharged. She was finally allowed to go home and she was grateful for that. The only downside was, she needed to stay on bed rest until her leg wound had been close to being fully healed, which was hard for Gamora, since she had a hard time staying still as it is.

A few hours of lying in bed already and she started to get restless. It was night and likely that most of the Guardians were sleeping. Now was her time to get out of bed and walk around for a little while. She pulled off the white sheet that she was lightly covered up with and slowly swung her legs to the side of the bed. Gamora slowly stood up and immediately fell onto her hands and knees. She flinched at the pain coming from her leg. She knew it was idiotic but, she had to get out of her stupid cabin. Gamora managed to pushed herself back up onto her feet and limp to the door. She pushed the button that opened the door and exited into the hall.

* * *

She crept over to the living area, flinching with every step she took. It wasn't too surprising at what she found; Peter dancing around with his headphones on. Gamora smiled and leaned back against the wall, watching him foolishly dancing around. But her smiling soon ended when Peter noticed her presence. _'Oh shit, he saw me. I knew this was a horrible idea.'_ She thought, as Peter walked over to her.

"Gamora, what are you doing up so late?" He asked, taking his headphones off.

"I could ask the same about you." She responded with a shrug.

"More importantly, why aren't you in bed?" He asked rhetorically, ignoring her previous comment. "You're supposed to be on bed rest."

Gamora threw her hands up in the air. "Maybe, because it's so tedious lying in bed all day!" She snapped.

Suddenly, pools of blood started to seep through the gauze on her leg. Peter noticed it right away. "Jesus, Gamora!" He advanced closer towards her and picked her up, bridal style, carrying her towards the bathroom.

"Peter, what the hell are you doing?" Gamora asked, trying to escape from Peter's tight grasp.

Peter sat her down on top of the toilet seat. "God dammit, look at your leg!" He yelled as he rummaged through the cabinets.

Gamora looked down at her leg. She saw the red liquid seeping through the gauze and gasped. Peter pulled out a needle, thread, gauze, a bottle of isopropyl alcohol, a pair of medical scissors, medical tape and a washcloth. He knelt down to Gamora and cut open the old gauze on her leg. Then, he poured some of the isopropyl alcohol into the washcloth.

"This is going to sting." Peter stated, before dabbing the gash on Gamora's leg with the washcloth. She flinched and subconsciously placed her hands on Peter's. She looked down at their hands but, didn't move them. Peter eventually moved his to grab the needle and thread off of the counter, leaving Gamora staring at the floor. "Ready?" He asked. Gamora nodded and grabbed a hold of the the toilet seat. When Peter started to push the needle through her skin, Gamora started to bite her tongue to prevent from screaming out in agony. Eventually, the stitches were firmly secured into Gamora's skin. Peter grabbed the gauze off of the sink and wrapped it around her leg. He quickly secured it with a piece of medical tape and sat up; his face inches away from Gamora's.

"Gamora, I-" Before Peter could finish his sentence, Gamora gently grabbed both of his cheeks and pulled him closer towards her. Then, without a warning, she planted a quick, delicate kiss on Peter's lips.

"Sorry."

Peter kissed her back, but more passionately. After what felt like hours, they pulled apart for air; their foreheads touching. "No reason to apologize." Gamora laughed. "Want to talk about what just happened?" She nodded. Peter picked her up and carried her to her room, trying to prevent her from tearing her stitches again.

* * *

He sat her gently down on her bed. She laid down on her side, while Peter climbed in next to her, starting to run his fingers through her tangled hair.

"Peter,-" She whispered. "I think I like you more than just a friend." She smiled, leaning into his touch. Peter could tell she was nervous telling him how she really felt about him. He smiled back. "You treat me differently than others. You care about me. You've saved my life more times than I care to admit. You make me laugh and smile when i'm upset." She sat up a little and gazed into Peter's eyes. "Peter, I think I love you...but, I don't know what love is." _'What do you mean you think? You know you love him!'_ She thought.

Peter continued running his fingers through her hair. "Well, from what I know, love is when you care deeply for someone and you don't want to lose them. There's different types of love though. You have mutual love, which is the type of love you have for your friends and family. And then there's another type of love that means so much more. I don't know much about that kind of love, but, what I do know is that I didn't know that it existed at all, until I met you. Gamora, it's like you completely turned my life around. I used to be this womanizing thief that could care less about half the shit that happened to the galaxy and then, you came in and you showed me a new way of life; you showed me that I could be a better person. The time I spent with the Ravengers, made me into something i'm not and when I met you, you showed me that, that person who I was then, wasn't the person I was supposed to be. Listen, to be honest, I don't really know a frickin' thing about relationships, but, I do know one thing; I'm madly in love with you and I promise,-" He stopped playing with her hair and grabbed one of her hands with both of his. "I will never hurt you. You mean so much more to me than all of those other girls combined." He pulled back one of his hands and loosely intertwined the other with hers.

"I know. I just have one question; why did you use those other girls and leave them behind the next day?" She asked, still gazing into his eyes.

"Because after my mom...um, she had this Terran disease called cancer. It was like something was eating her from the inside, slowing making its way out." Tears started to build up in Peter's eyes. Gamora placed her free hand on Peter's cheek and stroked it with her thumb. "Then, eventually, it did make its way out, and she...died."

"Peter, I don't-" Gamora said as tears began to build up in her eyes, as well.

"I'm not done." He interrupted. "Then, after that, I didn't want to get hurt that badly ever again. I wanted to have the fun of a relationship, but, I didn't want to become attached. I knew that if I ever loved anyone, they would either get killed by people who hated me, or they would leave me. I didn't want that to happen and I thought it would be better if I lived and traveled on my own, but I was wrong. And then, there was that day on Xandar; the day I met you and I knew I was screwed. As the song once said; I fooled around and fell in love; and that person I fell in love with Gamora...that was you." A tear fell down to Gamora's cheek, as she wrapped her arms around Peter.

"Out of all the girls in the galaxy, why me?" She muttered into his shirt.

"I love you because you actually put effort into me." Peter started to say, as he thought back to the first time they met. "I love you because nobody has ever given me the love that you have given me and you are the only one who could ever love me this way." He thought back to when Gamora told him to be careful right before they left the Milano to retrieve the Siren necklace. "I love you because you always make me feel like i'm worth something." He thought back to the time when Gamora called him a 'Man of Honor'. "I love you because you have a nurturing nature and you take care of me." He thought back to the time Gamora gave him stitches when he got caught in the middle of a bar fight. "I love you because you made me smile when I almost forgotten how to." He thought back to when he first played Awesome Mix Vol. 2 and Gamora started to dance with him. "I love you because you have a huge and honest heart of gold." He thought back to when Gamora insisted that they should give the Orb to Nova Prime and save Xandar. "I love you and every little detail about you and nothing will change that."

After hearing his short speech, Gamora hugged him tighter, as if he was going to disappear; but he wasn't. He stayed with her the rest of that night. They talked and laughed and listened to Peter's music, until the both of them fall asleep; Gamora's back against Peter's stomach, Gamora using their intertwined hands as a pillow and Peter's remaining arm secured around Gamora's stomach. They slept peacefully, in that position for the rest of the night, smiling.

* * *

 **A/N: The first thing I wanted to say was thanks for all of the awesome reviews! You guys don't know how much it means to me to have people giving me constructive criticism and positive feedback on my stories! The second thing I wanted to say was the last speech Peter makes to Gamora came from an image I saw on Google.**


	6. Dangerous

"Hello? Snap outta it!"

Gamora and Peter quickly snapped out of their gazes and turned their attention towards Rocket.

"Like I was saying, it's almost been weeks since our last mission; the time when Gamora almost got killed." Gamora turned away in embarrassment. "Listen, we're almost outta units, we need to find a job!" He shouted as he stood on top of the crate his was sitting on. Peter nodded and grabbed Gamora's hand.

"Remember, it's not your fault." He whispered into her ear. He stood up, still holding onto Gamora's hand. "Alright!" He shouted. "This is what we're gonna do; I haven't told you guys about it yet, but Nova Prime gave us a mission. I wanted to keep it on the DL until, I had the chance to talk to you guys."

Drax furrowed his brows in confusion. "What is a DL? Some type of table?"

Peter chuckled a little. "No, it means I kept it a secret."

Rocket threw his hands up in the air. "Oh, you kept another secret from us?" He crossed his arms, as Peter looked at him in confusion. "First, you don't tell us about your secret romance with Gams,-" Peter was about to say something when Rocket interrupted him. "Yeah, didn't think I'd notice that one, huh?" He tried to say something again, but Rocket held his hand out. "Now, you're keeping more secrets from us? What the hell happened to the 'we don't keep secrets from each other' deal, Quill?"

"Rocket, shut up! Peter and I were going to tell you guys about us, but we haven't really gotten around to it." Gamora said, as she looked at Peter.

"Furthermore, did you guys ever think about how we felt about this whole 'you two dating' thing?"

"Rocket-"

"Shut it, Drax." Rocket turned to Gamora. "If this retard ever hurts you, which we all know will happen, sooner or later, it will jeopardize the whole team!"

"Rocket! Will you stop thinking about yourself, for once? Have you ever thought that maybe Peter has changed?" Gamora finally snapped at him.

"No, people never change! And will you stop calling him, Peter? It's really annoying that you're the only one who calls him that."

"Screw you, Rodent." Gamora muttered under her breath as she left the living area. He winced at the name she called him.

"Gamora!" Peter called out after. "Way to go, Rocket." Rocket looked away. "Gamora, wait up!" He ran after her.

"I am Groot?" Groot asked placing a branch on Rocket's shoulder.

"What happened? What happened is that I screwed up." He walked over to the fridge, grabbed a bottle of wine and started to chug it. Drax walked over and sat next to him on the ground.

"Rocket, you need to apologize."

"Why? All I did was tell them how I felt." He said before finishing the bottle. Rocket started to grab another bottle, when Drax blocked him from the fridge. "Hey? What the hell, man?"

"Drinking will not help, my friend. It will only make manners worse. Do you ever think maybe Gamora is correct? I believe Quill makes her happy."

Rocket stopped trying to reach for the wine and slumped down to the ground. "Yeah, for now. Do you even remember what Quill was like, before we met him? When I first saw him, he was making goo-goo eyes with a pink lady."

"Krylorian?"

Rocket threw his hands up in the air. "It doesn't matter. If Quill hurts her, she'll leave. It won't be the same without her."

"That is not true, my friend." Drax put a shoulder on Rocket. "I can assure you they will keep their personal and profession lives separate from each other."

Rocket scowled. "Fine. I'll apologize." He stood up and pointed to Groot. "But, only because he'll hate me if I don't."

"I am Groot." Groot singsonged, as Rocket walk away.

"Shut up, Groot!" Rocket yelled from the hall.

* * *

 **Meanwhile:**

"Gam!" Peter finally managed to catch up to her. He grabbed a hold of her arm, as she spun around.

"Peter, let go!" She spat through her teeth, trying to pull away from him.

"No!" He yelled. "I'm not letting go."

Gamora stopped pulling away from him, as a tear fell down her cheek. "Peter,-"

"What?" He whispered.

"Maybe...maybe,-"

"Gamora, what's wrong?"

"Maybe, Rocket is right." She finally blurted.

"Gamora, what are you talking about?"

"Maybe, this was a mistake." She whispered, with hurt in her voice. She looked up at Peter, who had the same amount of hurt in his eyes.

"Gamora, I-"

"No, Peter. You don't love me. You think you do, but you don't."

"I told you, you aren't like those other girls. I won't hurt you." Gamora didn't say anything. "This isn't about what Rocket said, is it?"

"It's not you i'm worried about, I trust you. It's Thanos I don't trust." She was silent for a moment. "Maybe, this whole thing was a mistake. I don't deserve happiness, I don't deserve Rocket, or Groot, or Drax. I don't deserve you." She didn't know she was sobbing until she felt the salty wetness on her cheeks.

"Don't say that. Gamora, I haven't heard you talk like this in a while. What's going on?"

"Peter, Nebula's back and she left me a message. It wasn't good either. For some reason, she went back to Thanos."

"What did she say?"

"She said it was either me or you. I told her it was me. I've been happy long enough Peter." She gave him a weak smile. "Thank you." She kissed him softly on his lips. "But, I can't bare the thought of her hurting you. I have to leave."

"Gamora, no. I won't let you." He grabbed her hand.

"You can't stop me, Peter." She let go of his hand and turned towards her cabin. "Drop me off at the next planet."

"No." He snapped. "I'm not letting you do this. I love you too much."

Gamora turned to him. "Well then, stop loving me." She entered her cabin and locked the door.

Peter turned around with tears in his eyes to see a very upset raccoon standing behind him.

"Pete, I-" Rocket watched Peter walk around him and enter the bathroom. His ears fell, as he walked back towards the living area.

* * *

Gamora slid down her door and wept into her knees. "What did I do to deserve this?" She whispered to herself. "Not only did I lose my family and my home, but I lost the only man, I ever loved." She stood up, walked over to her dresser and grabbed the data-pad off of it. She looked at it for a moment, before throwing it at the mirror in front of her, watching both of the objects shatter into pieces. Then, she did something she hadn't done in a while; she broke down in tears.

 ** _To Be Continued..._**


	7. People Do Stupid Things For Love

**5 Hours Earlier...**

 _"Gamora! Pick up the distress call! I'm working here!" Rocket yelled from his cabin. Gamora rolled her eyes and walked to the meeting area, where the faint ringing came from. She pressed the 'answer' button. To her surprise, it was somebody she wished she wouldn't have to see ever again; Nebula._

 _"What do you want Nebula?" She asked, as she crossed her arms._

 _The bald, blue luphomoid smirked at her. "I just wanted to let you know, Father isn't very pleased with your recent actions."_

 _Gamora glared at her. "I am very well aware of that."_

 _"But, I didn't come here to talk."_

 _"Just get to the point, Sister."_

 _"Father has heard of your companion's abilities. He wants him and will do whatever it takes to get him. We can do this two ways; you can hand your companion over or Father's army can take him by force."_

 _Gamora furrowed her brows in anger. "You leave him alone, Nebula."_

 _"Should I send the Sakarrans then?"_

 _Gamora shook her head. "What about me?"_

 _"What about you?"_

 _"If Father takes me, will he leave Peter out of this?"_

 _"Oh, so your companion does have a name."_

 _Gamora scowled. "Will he?"_

 _"Possibly."_

 _"When shall we meet?"_

 _"The Sanctuary. Tomorrow. Or else, the Sakarrans will come." Then, Nebula was gone._

* * *

 **Present...**

Peter kept knocking on Gamora's cabin door. "Gamora, we need to talk."

Rocket rolled his eyes. "Pete, you know she isn't going to answer."

Drax put a hand on Peter's shoulder. "We will try again later, my friend."

"No!" He snapped. "I'm not giving up."

"Pete, calm down. We never said you had to give up. Just take a break from it; grab something to eat, you haven't-"

"Shut up, Rocket!" He yelled.

"Fine, if you need us we'll be in the kitchen." Rocket's ears fell. "Come on, guys."

"Peter, what you are doing; it is not healthy." Drax said, before following Rocket.

"I am Groot." Groot patted Peter's shoulder as he followed Drax and Rocket to the kitchen.

Peter watched as his friends turned the corner into the kitchen. He turned back towards Gamora's door. He put his hand on the door. "Gamora, please. Talk to me, Babe."

On the other side of the door, Gamora stood, in tears, with her hand on the exact same spot on the door, where Peter's was.

"Remember that one time where I almost got you to dance and you threw a pillow at me?" He chuckled.

Gamora silently chuckled, wiping the tears from her eyes with her free hand. They were both silent for a minute.

"Gam, I know what you think you're doing is right, but the truth is, it's not. You're not only hurting yourself, you hurting everyone on this ship as well."

Gamora said nothing. All she did was back away from the door and sat on the edge of her bed.

"God dammit, Gamora! Open the door!" He yelled, as slammed his fist on the door and backed away slowly. Hearing the large pound on the door not only made Gamora jump, but also started to make her cry even harder.

Peter wasn't going to give up on Gamora, but he knew that she wasn't going to talk anytime soon. So, he walked to the meeting area. He looked up the recent calls from that day and listened to the conversation between Gamora and Nebula. He knew what he was about to do was stupid, but he would rather Thanos have him than Gamora. He knew what he was going to do would upset Gamora, but he couldn't let her get hurt more than she already had been. Then, it was settled; that night, when everyone was asleep, he would sneak into a pod and fly to the Sanctuary.

* * *

Later that night, Peter sneaked out of his room, grabbing his jacket and blasters. He was about to head towards the pods, when he realized he forgot to do something. He quickly ran back into his room, grabbed a piece of paper, scribbled something on it and slid it under Gamora's door. "I love you, Babe."

Peter walked over to a pod and climbed into it. He set the coordinates for the Sanctuary and sat back as he flew away from the Milano. He clutched onto the necklace Gamora had given him, as a tear fell down his cheek.

* * *

 **Two Weeks Earlier...**

 _"Gamora, where are we going, again? Please remind me, because I don't quite remember if you ever mentioned it." Peter said sarcastically, as Gamora dragged him around the streets of Xandar._

 _"Shut up and follow me, before I slice your mouth off." Peter loved when she was like this; joking around, giggling, having fun. Of course, she wasn't like that all of the time; only, when she was with Peter. In reality, Gamora could actually be very childish at times._

 _"Gamora? Are you flirting with me?" Peter asked with a huge smirk spread across his face. He spun her back towards him, as she landed against him with her hands on his chest. "Because, if you are, I think it's really hot." Gamora giggled and reached up to kiss him. Peter leaned in, only to find Gamora spinning out of his grasp. "Hey! That wasn't nice!"_

 _Gamora giggled again. "You want to kiss me? Come and get me!" She taunted him before running off. Peter chuckled before running after her._

 _Gamora had managed to get him to chase her to an antique store. Peter had finally caught up to her, almost out of breath. "Jesus, don't you ever get out of breath?" He asked, practically gasping for air. "And, I believe you promised me something?"_

 _"Oh, right." She walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek._

 _"What the-I thought you were going to actually kiss me!" He exclaimed._

 _Gamora shrugged her shoulders. "You should've been quicker." They both laughed. "Stay here, i'll be back." He nodded, as she walked into the antique shop._

 _Like many antique shops, the store had ranged from many different items; some of which came from Terra, also known as Earth. Gamora headed up to the check-out counter._

 _"What may I do for you, Milady?" The cashier asked. He was a yellow Entemen, clad in a green jumpsuit. His voice was deep and rough, hoarse almost._

 _"I had requested an item for pick-up." Gamora replied with a slight smile._

 _"Name?"_

 _"Gamora."_

 _The cashier looked at her with his mouth drawn to the floor. "No way! Member of the Guardians of the Galaxy?" Gamora nodded. "It's such an honor to meet you! You saved my family. I have a son and he looks up to you and the other Guardians. That is all he talks about anymore." He said with a laugh. Gamora's smile grew huge. Nobody, besides Peter and the other Guardians, has ever complimented her like that before. "Anyways, here is your order." He slid a box across the counter._

 _"Thank you." Gamora said, digging some units out of her satchel. The cashier put an hand on her arm._

 _"No, please. It's on me."_

 _"I couldn't ask you to do that."_

 _"Please, it's the least I can do." Gamora gave him another huge smile._

 _"Thank you." She said grabbing the small box off of the counter._

 _"No, thank you."_

 _Gamora walked out the door to see Peter squatting down in front of a young Xandarian girl. She smiled. Peter was talking to the little girl, as she was sobbing hysterically. He started pointing in different directions until the girl smiled and gave him a huge hug, running in the opposite direction. Peter finally saw Gamora and walked over towards her._

 _"What happened?"_

 _"Poor kid got lost. I helped her find her parents and she gave me a huge hug."_

 _Gamora smiled. "I see."_

 _Peter looked at the small box in her hand. "Watcha got there?" He asked._

 _"Nothing." She said with a smirk._

 _"Nothing? It definitely looks like something." He responded with a larger smirk._

 _Gamora gave him the box. "Dammit, you got me." She laughed. "It's for you."_

 _He smiled and placed a hand over his heart. "Aww, i'm flattered." He opened the lid. It was a silver chain with a small silver charm that looked like a cassette tape. "Wow." He said admiring the necklace._

 _Gamora looked at him, worried that he didn't like it. "Do you like it?" She asked with a small smile._

 _He look at her with an expressionless face and slowly started to smile. Peter picked her up and spun her around in the air. "I love it!" They both laughed. Gamora stood up on her toes and kissed him. "Is that what I have to do from now on to get a kiss from you?" He asked, still laughing._

 _"Not all the time." She smirked and kissed him again._

* * *

Peter smiled at the memory, hoping one day, he might see his one and only love again.

* * *

 **Three Hours Later...**

Gamora slowly opened her eyes. "Please, just be a dream. Please, just be a dream." She looked beside her to see that Peter wasn't there. "Shit." She got out of bed and saw the piece of paper on the floor. She picked it up and read it.

 _Gamora,  
_ _You don't know how hard it is to do this, but it was the only way I could protect you. I left earlier today, while you guys were still asleep, to take your place in going to the Sanctuary. I don't know if I'll ever make it back or if I'll even be alive by the time you read this letter. Please don't come for me. I love you too much to see you get hurt. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this. If I never see you again, I wanted to tell you one thing; ever since I fell in love with you, I knew I wanted you to stay with me forever and maybe, one day, we could start a family. And I want to say one more thing before I have to sign this off; Ooh child, things are gonna get easier. Ooh child, things will get brighter._

 _I Love You So Much,  
_ _Peter_

Gamora started to burst into tears. "Why is he so ignorant at times?" She threw the paper aside and stormed out of her room. "I know you'll never forgive me for this-" She whispered. "Wake up! Peter's gone!" She yelled. The rest of the Guardians flew out of their room.

"What do you mean he's gone?" Rocket asked rhetorically, running his claws through his fur.

"I think she means that-"

"I know what she means, Drax!" He snapped.

"He wanted to protect me. He turned himself in to Thanos. We need to help him."

"I am Groot."

"Groot's right. Lead the way."

Gamora smirked and led the Guardians to the cockpit. She was going to get Peter back no matter what it takes.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys! Thank you so much for all of the awesome reviews! There is one last part to this very long chapter. It will definitely be longer than the other chapters. Then, the story will pick up from there.**


	8. Rescuing Peter

After what felt like forever, Peter finally landed on the eerie ground of the Sanctuary. He got out of his pod and started to walk around. The Sanctuary was bigger than he imagined. "Nebula!" He yelled out, getting irritated. "Nebula, i'm here! You want me? Come get me."

"So, you are the Peter Quill, Father has been talking about?" The bald, blue luphomoid appeared out of darkness, scaring the shit out of Peter. His brows furrowed in anger.

"Listen, do whatever you want to me. Just leave Gamora, alone."

Nebula snorted. "You know what's so adorable? She said the same thing about you."

"What do you want?"

"Father requires your presence at once."

"Okay." Peter said, rolling his eyes. Two Sakaaran guards grabbed him underneath his armpits and dragged him to Thanos. "Good God, I was coming. Man, you guys are impatient." They threw him towards the large, purple man, clad in gold armor. "Jesus!" He exclaimed, looking at the large man in front of him.

"Peter Quill, I see you have came in place of my daughter, Gamora."

"Yeah. What do you wa-" Before Peter could finish his sentence, Thanos stood off his throne, approached Peter and nailed him in the jaw. He wiped blood off of his mouth. "Jesus. What the hell is your problem?"

"Did you really think I wanted you?" Thanos laughed.

"Wait, what? But, Nebula said-"

"My daughter deceived you. Yes, I know of your ability, but right now, you are completely useless to me. The only reason you are here, is because you are Gamora's weakness. If she knows that you are here, she will try to rescue you."

"You mean this was all a trap?" Peter tried to get up but, he immediately got pushed back down by a Sakaaran soldier.

"I'm afraid so." Thanos laughed, evilly. "And when my daughter returns, I will kill her in front of you, so she no longer has one."

"Do you really think having a weakness is a bad thing? Gamora loves me. Why is that bad?"

"Love makes you weak."

"Love makes you strong. It gives you a reason to fight."

"Love is nothing but, a fantasy." He turned his back towards Peter. "That is why I must show Gamora, that love...well, it doesn't exist."

"Gamora will never stop fighting for what's right. Even if you do kill me, she will never fight for you."

"Maybe, but that does not mean I will not make her life as miserable as possible." He smiled and turn back towards Peter. "Starting with you." Then, he signaled for the Sakaaran guards. One of them took out a taser gun, and tasered Peter until he passed out.

* * *

Gamora paced back and forth across the cockpit. "Rocket, can you go any faster?" She asked, running a hand through her hair.

"Listen Gam, I'm going as fast as I can. Don't think you're the only one who wants to save Quill, cause you ain't." Rocket said, piloting the ship.

"I can assure you that Quill will be just fine, until we get there. He can handle himself." Drax said leaning back in his seat.

"How could you possibly say that Drax?" Gamora snapped. "You think Ronan was powerful? Thanos is a hundred times worse."

"She has a point."

"Gamora, worrying will not help Peter. If anything it will only make the manner worse." Drax explained, sitting upward.

"Huh, I haven't heard that line before." Rocket said sarcastically.

"We will find Peter, my friend." Gamora nodded and turned around to see the Sanctuary from a distance.

"We're here. Drax, help me get our weapons. Rocket, land the ship, cloaked. Groot, find anything else that will be useful to us." Everyone nodded and went their separate ways.

* * *

Peter was chained up, next to Thanos' throne. He looked beaten up and was covered in blood and bruises. He took a deep breath. A whip struck his back. He cried out in agony.

"The more you show weakness, the more you will suffer." Thanos announced, as another whip struck Peter's back. A Sakaaran guard walked in and approached Thanos.

"Lord Thanos, Loki has returned and wants a word with you."

Thanos laughed. "Loki? Alright, where is he?"

"Morag."

He laughed again. "Morag? Why Morag of all places?"

"He did not say. All he said was he was on Morag wanting to talk to you about the other two infinity stones he had discovered."

Thanos smirked, as Peter grimaced from the pain on his back. "Alright." He got up from his throne and started to walk past the Sakaaran guard. "Get the ship ready!" He turned to Nebula. "Nebula. You are in charge. If Gamora is to return before I do, kill him." He pointed to Peter.

"Yes, Father." Nebula signaled for the Sakaaran guards to continue whipping Peter. She walked out of the room, as Peter's screams of agony echoed around her.

* * *

The rest of the Guardians sneaked their way in, taking out guards one by one. Gamora signaled for them to enter the throne room. Before they entered the room, Gamora felt a firm hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Drax looking at her.

"My friends, if we are not to return, I just wanted to thank you for being my friends." They all shared one last smile before entering the throne room.

The first thing Gamora saw was Peter, chained up, unconscious and covered in blood. His own blood. Her eyes filled with rage, as she, Drax, Groot and Rocket, fought their way over to Peter.

Eventually, all of the Sakaarans were lying dead on the floor, or close to it. Gamora ran over to Peter and knelt down beside him. The Guardians followed her and gathered around their unconscious friend. Gamora placed Peter's head on her lap and begun running her fingers through his hair. A tear leaked from her eye and fell onto his cheek, waking him up. "Hey." She said, as she smiled softly at him with tears still filling her eyes.

Peter coughed. "You can't be her'." He whispered weakly. Gamora shook her head.

"I am. I came here to rescue you."

"G'mora, Ne'ula and Thanos doesn't wan' me." He started to pant. Gamora continued to shake her head. "She wants you."

"I don't care. I'm getting you out of here." Peter weakly placed his hand on her cheek and rubbed his finger along her silver scars. He never dared to ask her where they came from, knowing the story would be painful to tell.

"Thanos lef' to talk to someone nam'd Loki. You need to leave now, b'fore he com's back."

"We will not leave you, Peter." Drax butted in.

Peter weakly turned his head towards Drax. "You g'ys need to leave, too."

"You must be shitting if you think we're gonna leave your weak ass here." Rocket yelled trying to hold back the tears in his eyes. Peter knew what he said was a dick move, but he knew that's how Rocket showed he cared.

"Lov' ya' too, Bud." Peter chuckled as he turned his head back to Gamora.

"Peter, what did she do to you?"

"You shou've been qui'ker." He chuckled weakly, as Gamora smiled softly at him, grabbed on to the hand on her cheek and squeezed it. "Seri'usly. You need to go."

"No, Peter. I'm not leaving you." Suddenly, Peter started to gasp for air. "Peter." She started to feel around his body for fatal wounds and found one right next to his right lung; a stab wound. "Peter!" She yelled.

"I lov' you." He spat out before letting go of Gamora's cheek.

Then, Gamora's world seemed to have completely slowed down. She couldn't hear anything and everything was blurry. All she could hear was a blood curdling scream. It must have come from her, feeling the sharp pain in her throat. She slowly lowered her head down to Peter, tears running down her cheeks, and kissed him. "Peter, wake up!" She cried out. It was official; Peter Jason Quill was dead.

Drax picked her up and she tried to fight her way out of his grasp. When her world started to speed up again, Gamora saw all of the Guardians in tears. But, she wasn't crying anymore; she was now, really pissed off. She pushed herself out of Drax's grasp and grabbed her Godslayer from her belt and left the throne room.

The rest of the Guardians looked at her in surprised, as Groot picked up Peter.

"We need to get him to the ship. We can't leave him here." Rocket said as a tear fell down his cheek.

Drax nodded, as they made their way to the Milano.

* * *

Gamora ran through the rocky halls of the Sanctuary, slaughtering any Sakaarans that stood in her way. She finally found the blue luphomoid talking to one of the Sakaaran guards. Gamora threw a dagger at the Sakaaran, as he fell to the ground. Nebula turned around to see her 'sister'.

"Sister!" Gamora yelled out to Nebula. "You killed the only thing I ever loved."

Nebula smirked. "You came. I'm glad you got to see your companion one last time before he perished."

Gamora became even more furious, as she drew out her Godslayer and ran towards Nebula. Nebula took out her sword and blocked Gamora's attack. Gamora sidekicked Nebula. She blocked it, pushing Gamora back and slicing her arm. "Give it a rest, Sister! You are no match for me." Nebula announced. Gamora stood up and charged herself at Nebula again. Nebula blocked her attack, once again, knocking her Godslayer out of her hand. "Your love for that man, made you weak. Don't you see Gamora? You never deserved anything they gave you. You are nothing but, a cold blooded murder. Peter Quill never loved you. You would've just been another one of his conquests. Love is weak."

"No, love is strong." Gamora said through her teeth. She pushed herself up and punched Nebula in her jaw, forcing her to drop her sword. She grabbed two daggers out of her boots and started to attack Nebula. Nebula blocked the punches until, Gamora roundhouse kicked her, making her fall onto the ground. Gamora held the dagger to her throat, as her expression softened. "I cannot kill you, Sister,-" She stabbed the dagger into Nebula's shoulder, forcing her to stay on the ground. She cried out in agony. "But, I cannot have you kill anymore of my _family._ " She backed away from Nebula, as she grabbed her Godslayer off the ground and headed towards the Milano.

* * *

Gamora saw Peter's corpse lying on the table; the one they normally gathered around when they had meetings. He was still bathed in blood and looked as pale as a ghost. He didn't look like himself. Gamora collapsed on top of him and started to sob into his chest.

"Why did you leave me? You promised you wouldn't go anywhere!" She yelled at the corpse underneath her.

Once the Milano was on autopilot, the other Guardians rushed downstairs to see her crying into him. Drax walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "He loved you dearly, my friend."

"Yeah, Quill wasn't as much of a jackass as I thought he was." Rocket muttered behind him as a tear fell from his eye.

"I am Groot?"

"No! I'm not crying, you idiot! I just got some dust in my eyes." He responded with a sniffle.

"Guys, can I just talk to Peter, alone for a few minutes?" Gamora asked, as tears kept streaming down her face.

The Guardians nodded in unison and left the room.

"Peter,-" Gamora took his hand and loosely intertwined her fingers into his. "I love you, too and I would've loved to eventually start a family with you. But, now-" Gamora couldn't finish her sentence and started to sob some more.

 _"Really? Cause' I thought you would've thought it was stupid."_

Great. Now, she was hearing things. She must be going insane. She looked up and saw Peter's eyes flutter open. He smiled softly at her. She slapped him.

"Ow."

"Why did you do that?" She yelled at him. "I was worried sick! I thought you had died!"

"I thought I was going to die, too, but then I heard you crying hysterically and I couldn't bare, hearing you like that."

"Peter,-" She wrapped her arms around him and sobbed into his neck. She kissed him on the cheek and grabbed the necklace around his neck. She thumbed the charm and gazed into his eyes. "You still have the necklace?"

"Of course, I wouldn't give it away for anything. Someone would have to kill me before they'd get their hands on it."

Drax, Rocket and Groot ran into the room, to see Peter awake. They all ran towards him, as Gamora chuckled and gave him another kiss, this time on his lips.

"Peter, what the hell? You were dead like three seconds ago!" Rocket yelled at him wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Rocket, are you crying?" Peter asked with a small smirk.

"Shut up! You tell anyone, I will claw your eyes out."

"Eh, well see about that."

"What happened, Quill?" Drax asked.

"I thought I was going to die, but then I was waken up by this one." He pointed to Gamora, who was still on top of him, hugging him so tight to the point of almost strangling him to death. "Easy, killer." He said, rubbing her back. She loosened her grip and nuzzled into his chest.

"Okay, there isn't any sexual tension in this room right now. We'll just be leaving." Rocket said, starting to walk up to the cockpit. Drax and Groot followed, as Peter kissed Gamora's forehead.

"I promise, I won't let you go."

"You better not." She said, lightly flicking him on the back of his head. He laughed. "Rocket, set coordinates for Xandar." She called up to him.

"On it!" He yelled back.

"As for you, we need to get you to a hospital."

"I hate hospitals." He whined.

"Too bad." She shot back, as she nuzzled further into his chest.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks again for all the awesome reviews! The next chapter will be about the Guardians landing on Xandar, why Peter is still alive, and more fluff between Peter and Gamora.**


	9. I Hate Hospitals, For the Most Part

Peter had been in the hospital for days, while doctors performed numerous of tests on him to see why he is still alive. So far, they received nothing. So here he was, lying in a hospital bed, with nothing to do and nothing to eat. The only damn thing he could eat right now is ice cubes! What the hell! The only good thing that came out of lying in bed all day, was that Gamora never left his side for more than a few minutes. Well, living is good too I guess, but having Gamora by his side was the best thing he could ask for right now.

Gamora was asleep next to him. She was sitting on a similar plastic chair that he was sitting in last time, with her head on his arm. She nuzzled into him and smiled in her sleep. Peter loved to see her getting peaceful sleep because of the things she's been through. What he wanted more than anything was for her to fall asleep in his arms, like they did before he ended up in the hospital. Gamora started to shiver and squeezed her eyes, tightly. Peter saw a tear fall from her eye. He gently shook her with his free arm, flinching at the pain coming from his chest. He shook her a little harder, as her eyes shot open. She frantically looked around the room as if she was still dreaming.

"Hey. Hey. Hey. Gam. Calm down. It's me, it's Peter." He said, trying to calm her, while cupping her cheek with the arm Gamora was lying on.

"Peter?" She asked. Gamora grabbed Peter's hand and squeezed it to make sure he was really there. She lowered her head as a tear leaked from her eye.

"Gam, you okay?" He asked as he rubbed Gamora's arm, with the hand that cupped her cheek. Gamora shook her head.

"What happened?"

"It was a nightmare." She whispered. "You were in it. It happened right after I had returned to the Milano from the Sanctuary. You...you didn't make it, Peter." She collapsed on top of him and sobbed into his chest. "Peter, I feel like you're the only one who understands me, completely. I don't want to lose you."

Peter held her tightly, ignoring the pain in his chest. "I made you a promise, didn't I?"

"You almost broke that promise."

"True, but I didn't." He paused for a moment. "Do you want to lay next to me? I can make room."

"Peter, I won't make you uncomfortable like that."

Peter shrugged. "If anything, it will make me more comfortable, since my badass girlfriend, can protect my weak ass."

Gamora sighed and climbed in next to him. "Who is this girlfriend?" Gamora flirted as she dried her tears.

"Well, she used to be an assassin. She could kill anyone with a wink of an eye. She's beautiful and green."

Gamora nuzzled into him. "Tell me more."

"She's caring,-" Peter kissed Gamora on her neck. "Amazing as hell,-" He kissed her on her cheek. "Nurturing,-" He kissed her forehead. "And the most important person in my life." He finally kissed her on her lips.

"She sounds amazing." Peter kissed her on her lips again.

"She's something alright." Peter chuckled. "Now, tell me about your boyfriend."

Gamora hummed. "Do I have to?" Peter nodded. "Ugh, fine. He's charming, and,-"

"Dreamy?"

Gamora smiled. "Eh."

"What about his abs? You gotta love those." He joked as he pulled off the covers, stretched out his torso, pulled up his hospital gown and start to rub his abs.

Gamora placed a hand on them. "Eh, they're okay." She quickly took her hand off of him and smirked.

Peter pouted and pulled his hospital gown back down. "Aw, you don't mean that. His abs are every girls' weakness." Gamora rolled her eyes playfully. "You gotta at least love them somewhat."

Gamora chuckled. "I never said I didn't." She nuzzled into Peter. "And...I love him."

Peter kissed her forehead. "I love you, too."

"Peter, can you sing one of your songs to me?"

"You want me to sing to you? That's a new one." Peter chuckled. "Which one?"

"The first song you danced with me to, when we started dating."

"Ah, got it." He cleared his throat dramatically. Gamora hit him playfully. "Okay, okay." He took a deep breath and started singing. " _What I want, you've got and it might be hard to handle. But like the flame that burns the candle, the candle feeds the flame, yeah yeah. What I've got's full stock of thoughts and dreams that scatter. You pull them all together and how, I can't explain, oh yeah, well well you, you make my dreams come true. Well well you, oh yeah, you make my dreams come true._ "

Peter looked to the side of him and saw Gamora passed out cold in his arms. But, he didn't care; he kept singing for her anyways. " _Girl oh yeah. On a night when bad dreams become a screamer. When they're messin' with a dreamer, I can laugh it in the face; twist and shout my way out and wrap yourself around me._ " He held Gamora tighter. " _'Cause I ain't the way you found me and I'll never be the same, oh yeah. Well 'cause you, you make my dreams come true, oh yeah. Well well you, you make my dreams come true, whoa yeah._ "

* * *

The next morning, Nova Prime entered the room with a data-pad. "Good news!" She exclaimed. Gamora sat up in her chair, while Peter sat up in his bed. The rest of the Guardians followed her into the room. "We found out why Peter survived the stab wound."

"Stop stalling and tell us, lady!" Rocket yelled.

"Rocket,-" Gamora started out.

"I know, I know." He interrupted, backing down.

"Part of the reason was of Peter's non-Terran heritage. Another part of the reason was because of his stubbornness and unwillingness to die. The last reason was pure luck. There are those rare times when a individual dies and come back to life because they are not ready to die. Peter was one of those individuals."

"You are saying Peter is immortal?" Drax asked.

"She never said that, Dipshit! She's saying Pete got lucky!" Rocket snapped.

"Well, now that you know, I should be leaving." Nova Prime said as she exited the room.

Peter watched her walk out, confused. "That can't be it. There has to be another reason."

"It sounds like a reasonable explanation. But, I do agree with you. She either isn't telling us something or there has to be more to what happened." Gamora concluded.

The Guardians sat there in silence, trying to figure out other possible reasons.


	10. Victoria

"Remember, we are getting this weird herb and we are leaving! Capeesh?" Peter explained, blocking the exit of the Milano. Drax started to say something, when Peter cut him off. "What I meant was do you understand?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Rocket?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Get herb thingy, go back to Milano. Blah, blah, blah." Rocket said sarcastically, as he walked underneath Peter's arm that was barricading the exit.

Everyone besides Peter and Gamora exited the Milano and started to walk around the ruins of Morag. Peter sighed and pulled Gamora to the side before she could walk out. "Be careful, okay?"

"Why are you telling me to be careful?"

"Good point." He quickly gave a kiss on her lips and slapped her backside. "Go get em', babe."

"Go get who? The herb? Didn't know it was considered a person." She called out to him as she caught up to the rest of the Guardians.

Peter chuckled. "Right! It's so weird, since were not getting in on any action in this mission." He called back to her, as he followed behind them, locking up the Milano.

* * *

They roamed the ruins of Morag, following Rocket's tracker to find a rare herb for Nova Prime. It was a small contraption; made out of thick rusty metal and looked almost identical to a data-pad. The tracker started blinking as they continued to walk.

"I found something!" Rocket shouted as he started to run closer to the red dot that appeared on the screen.

"Rocket! Hold up!" Peter shouted back. He turned to the rest of the Guardians. "Stay here, i'll be right back."

"Make sure he doesn't kill himself." Gamora retorted sarcastically, as she rolled her eyes. When she looked towards Peter's direction, he was gone. She sighed. "Men."

* * *

Peter continued roaming the ruins of Morag in search of the raccoon-like creature. He found no trace of him. When he shouted out Rocket's name, there was no answer. He started to worry, thinking that Rocket was in trouble. But, I mean how could he? He has a blaster that's twice his size!

Suddenly, something caught his attention. There was smoke coming from the direction Rocket went in. He continued to walk towards it, when he spotted a small camp set up. There wasn't many people there; only one to be exact. It was a young girl, no older than a teen who was looking at something that resembled a dragon-like creature.

Peter subconsciously walked closer towards the camp and got a closer look of the girl. She was petite, no taller than 4'3, but she also had the body shape of a dancer. She had beautiful dirty blonde, curly hair that was pulled up in a high and dark brown eyes that blended into the dark sky of Morag. Her skin was almost as pale as a ghost and her blood red lips made her look even paler. She was clad in a long sleeved black dress that came just above her knees. The dress was made out of leather and had a collar that sat just above her neck. Next to her sat her weapon; a silver bow and a black quiver filled with matching arrows.

Peter didn't know what it was, but it seemed as if he knew this girl from somewhere or somehow he was connected to her. He continued his way to the camp, when the young girl saw him and reached for her bow.

Peter held up in hands in defense. "Hey! Woah! I'm not going to hurt you!"

"Who are you and how did you find me? Do you work for Thanos? Tell him I'm done with my father and I want nothing to do with him." She quickly attached an arrow to the bow and pulled the string back, aiming it at Peter.

Peter's heart raced as he put his hands down and threw his blaster on the ground. "Look! I don't want to hurt you! I don't work for Thanos! I just saw you were here alone. I wanted to know why. You're so young." As Peter talked, the girl slowly removed tension from the bow, lowering it down from Peter. "How old are you; ten, eleven?"

"Who are you?" She asked, ignoring the question, with fear slowly withdrawing from her eyes and loosening her grasp on the grip of the bow.

"Peter Quill. Star-Lord. Awesome leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy? Ring a bell?"

"No." She said, finally dropping her bow.

"You shouldn't be here alone, Kid. Where's your family?"

"I don't have one." She snapped.

"Oh, sorry." He didn't know what else to say. "Listen, I need to find my friend. He ran off to God knows where, if you come with me, my crew and I could give you a lift."

"Thanks, but I-" She was interrupted when a sharp pain filled her body as she dropped to the ground.

"Kid!" Peter exclaimed. He ran over to the young girl and saw blood seeping through the leather of her dress. He found the source of the blood; a cut on her forearm, that seem to have been bleeding for a while. "Jesus, you need help. Hold on, Kid." He pressed a button on his intercom. "Everyone, we have a situation. Forget about the herb. Retreat to the Milano."

 _'I found it, Pete.'_ Rocket said through the intercom.

"Great. Head to the Milano."

 _'Got it.'_

 _'Heading back, now.'_

 _'I am Groot.'_

Peter swept the young girl in his arms and carried her to the Milano, picking up his blaster and grabbing her bow and arrows.

* * *

"Woah, woah, woah! Who the hell is that?" Rocket asked throwing his hands up in the air.

Peter set the young girl on the table as her eyes tried their hardest to stay open. "I don't know. I found her on my way looking for you. She's hurt pretty badly." Peter cut the arm of her sleeve off and tossed it aside. "Gam, can you stitch her up, while I get the rest of her stuff from the camp?"

"What the hell, Quill? Now she's coming with us? When were we informed of this?"

"What are we gonna do, fix her then abandon her here? She's a kid, Rocket."

"She has a weapon!" Rocket shot back.

"Enough!" Gamora yelled. "Rocket, get the first aid-kit. Drax, start up the Milano. Groot, get me a wet cloth." Rocket rolled his eyes as they all went to their assigned stations. Peter ran out of the Milano and headed towards the camp. Gamora found the wound and studied it through her fingers, as she applied pressure on it. "What happened?"

The young girl flinched in pain. "Stupid Sakaaran guard, sliced my arm. I did my stitches, but they must have fallen out."

Gamora nodded as Rocket and Groot came back with the supplies. She quickly went to work as she went through the procedure of giving stitches.

By the time she was done, Peter was back and they had already headed off into space.

* * *

Rocket, Groot, Drax and Peter gathered around her. She sat back in the grungy couch in discomfort. "Back off!" Gamora scowled. "I feel like I'm talking to a bunch of wild animals." The boys snorted and left the room, leaving Gamora and the young girl alone. "Are you okay? Are you in any more pain?" She asked, keeping her distance, making sure not to startle her.

"No. Thank you for asking and patching me up." The girl said shyly.

"Your welcome." Gamora softly smiled at her. Peter walked in again. "What Peter?"

"Calm down!" He whined. "I just wanted to see how she was doing."

"She's fine, now go!"

"It's alright. He can stay."

"What's your name?"

"Victoria." She replied softly.

"So, Vicky-"

"Don't call me Vicky."

"Tori?"

"Fine."

"So, Tori, what were you doing there, by yourself?"

Victoria said nothing. Gamora pulled Peter aside. "Peter, let me talk to her." She whispered into his ear.

Peter sighed. "Fine. Tell me everything when you're done." Gamora nodded. Peter gave her a quick kiss on her cheek and left her and Victoria alone, _again_.

Gamora slowly walked over to Victoria and sat next to her. She could sense the young girl tense beside her. "I promise, we won't hurt you. Victoria, we can't help you if you don't tell us what happened." Victoria still sat in silence. Gamora thought of how else she could get the young girl to talk. As she zoned out, thinking of what she could do, Victoria turned her face towards Gamora and saw the silver scars across her face.

"What happened to your face?" She asked gesturing towards the scars. Gamora jumped, startled of Victoria's sudden voice. She thought for a bit more and spoke.

"I have an idea. I will tell you about my scars, if you tell me what happened."

Victoria sighed, afraid of saying yes and gingerly nodded.

"When I was younger, a man named Thanos-"

"I know who he is." Victoria interrupted. "Sorry."

Gamora sighed. "Thanos destroyed my home world. He killed my parents in front of me. He tortured me and abused me and trained me to be used as a weapon. He genetically modified me and that's where my scars came from." The whole time she talked, Victoria sat in silence and didn't move a muscle, as she listened to the green woman. "Then, one day I had the opportunity to escape, I found these guys, changed my life around and now i'm here."

"Wow."

"Now, what happened?" Gamora said sternly. Victoria just looked at her with a worried expression upon her face.

 ** _To Be Continued..._**

* * *

 **A/N: For those of you who read the comics or watch the show, yes that is her from the comics. I decided to take my own spin on her and make her a little younger and change her appearance a little. I hope Gamora wasn't a little OOC. I really think what she's been through with Peter would've made her relax a little bit and become more human.**


	11. Nurturing

"When I was little, well, littler, I never got to experience things that other kids had. I had barely seen my dad. I was never taught anything about the galaxy. I don't know how to have fun or relax. My father told me war was like a game. I had never experienced pain or sorrow. And then, my father thought I was ready." Tears started to leak from Victoria's eyes. "I went into battle with the Sakaarans." She started to hyperventilate as she continued her story. "I don't remember much. All I remember was there was blood everywhere. Then, a Sakaaran nicked me in my arm and killed the rest of my troop members. He said 'Tell your father, Thanos is done with his disobedience.'. I asked him what he meant. He told me my father worked for Thanos."

Gamora finally looked at the girl with tears in her eyes. "What?" Her voice cracked.

Victoria started sobbing harder. "My father lied to me about everything! He lied to me about war. He lied to me about what he's been doing for the past ten years of my life. He lied about everything! I knew something was up when my crew wanted to disobey his orders. We weren't supposed to fight, but we did anyways. Now, my whole crew is dead. I have no where to go and I have no one to turn to."

Gamora sat there in silence, not knowing what to say. There was a part of her that wanted to hug the young girl, but the other part of her knew it was probably best not to. "I'm sorry." The young girl wept until there was no tears left.

"What would you do?" She finally asked.

"I would,-" Gamora looked Victoria in her eyes. "I'll be right back." She wiped the tears from her face and left the young girl alone on the couch.

* * *

"No." Peter said, cleaning out his blasters.

"Peter, what's gotten into you? You're normally the noble one here. You should be the one asking us. Not the other way around." Gamora said sternly, throwing her arms up in the air. She crossed her arms and looked away from Peter.

"The only reason why I'm saying no is because Rocket will throw a hissy fit if another person lives on this ship." He threw his blaster on his bed and rubbed both of Gamora's arms. "Listen, I know she has no where to go, but she can't stay with us. I'll tell you what, we can drop her off on Xandar, give her a few units to get her started. She'll be-" Gamora pushed him away from her. Peter landed on his bed, with shock spread across his face. "Gam, I-"

"Save it, Quill. If she goes, I go too. She should not have to live like this." She turned away from Peter with hurt in her eyes. Peter tried to grab her arm but Gamora yanked it away and ran out of his cabin.

Peter rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Why did I just stick up for Rocket?" He got off his feet and ran through the ship to find Gamora.

* * *

Gamora grabbed a sheet and handed it to Victoria. "It gets cold on the ship but, this should do." The girl hesitantly took the sheet out of her hands.

"Thank you." She looked at her bag. Gamora followed her stare and walked towards it. She grabbed it and handed it to her.

"Was there something you needed?" Gamora asked with a soft smile. Victoria pulled out the same object she was looking at earlier. It was about the size of a troll doll, but soft. It was a stuffed animal; a stuffed dragon. The young girl looked at it. "Victoria?" She snapped out of her gaze and looked towards Gamora.

"Huh?"

"Is that-"

"It's nothing. It's just a stupid stuffed-" She tried to explain with embarrassment. Gamora sat next to her on the edge of the couch.

"Dragon of the Moon. Drax told me about it once." Gamora paused. "Victoria, you shouldn't be embarrassed to say that you still sleep with something."

"My mother gave it to me before she-"

Gamora placed a hand on Victoria's shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Sometimes I think that maybe, if she was still alive, I could have a normal childhood."

Peter ran into the room, panting. "There you are. I've been looking everywhere for you." Gamora stood up and glared at him. "I need to talk to you."

"About what, Peter?"

"Something important."

Gamora sighed and took her hand of off Victoria's shoulder. She gave her a soft smile. "Sleep well, Victoria." She followed Peter out of the room, turning out the lights before exiting.

* * *

Gamora slammed Peter against the wall. "What the hell do you want?" She said baring her teeth.

"Jesus, Gam." Gamora realized what she was doing and let go of him.

"Sorry."

"No, i'm sorry. I don't know why I stood up for Rocket. He's an asshole." He rubbed the back of his neck and stared at Gamora, who was staring at the ground. Peter walked up to her and slowly slid his arm around her waist. Still frowning, Gamora glared at him, but didn't move. "Listen, if keeping Tori here makes you feel better then i'll talk to the guys." Gamora's lips twitched a little. She was trying her hardest not to smile. "Now, want to talk about why you went all mama bear on me?" Gamora pushed him away and flicked him upside the head.

"I am not her mother."

"I never said you were, but you've been very motherly towards her since she arrived." Gamora finally allowed herself to smirk. Peter started to walk towards her and quickly wrapped both of his arms around her waist, making her gasp.

"And how is that?" She asked flirtatiously.

"Well for first off, you were the one who patched her up. Then, you wanted to talk to her alone about what happened. Then, you got pissed off when I said that she couldn't come with us and told me that you wouldn't let her go on her own." He smirked and leaned into her. She put a finger to his lips and laughed. "What?"

"You are so charming Star-Lord." She laughed one more time and started to walk away from Peter. He grabbed her arm and spun her in towards him. She landed with both hands on his chest, as he leaned in and kissed her. "There's Peter. Can't let me go?"

Peter laughed. "Not for the galaxy."

"That's a big promise."

"It's one i'll keep." He kissed her again. "Bed?"

Gamora laughed. "Bed." Peter wrapped his arm around her waist. Gamora laid her head on his shoulder and together they walked to Gamora's cabin.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys! I know this probably wasn't the best chapter I've written but, the next chapter will have a lot more fluff between these three. Thank you for the awesome reviews!**


	12. Dance?

The next morning, Peter walked with Gamora to the living area, where Tori was still sound asleep on the couch. She was curled up in a ball, hugging the stuffed dragon close to her. The sheet she was covered up in, was kicked to the floor and her curly hair, no longer in a pony tail, covered her small, diamond shaped face.

Peter smiled and wrapped an arm around Gamora's waist. She smiled back and kissed his cheek. "She sleeps like an angel."

Peter laughed. "That's a new one."

Gamora laughed along with him. "Are you going to keep count of every new thing I say?"

Her smirked at her, as she looked up at him. "Yeah." He kissed her and gestured for her to wake Tori up.

"You don't want to come with?" She whispered. He shook his head. 'You're an ass.' She mouthed.

Peter smirked. 'I know.' He mouthed back.

Gamora shook her head and walked towards the young girl. She carefully sat down next to her and gently shook her shoulder. "Victoria."

The young girl's eyes fluttered open. Tori sleepily looked at Gamora. The green woman laughed at the hair covering her face and pushed it out of her eyes. "Hi." She said with a yawn.

'Good morning." Gamora replied with a soft smile.

"Are we on Xandar yet?" She asked sitting up.

Gamora smiled. "No, but we are close."

"Okay, then-" Tori sat up and started to grab her things. "I'll get ready to head out." Gamora laid a hand on top of Tori's.

"Victoria, would you like to stay with us? You're still just a young girl and we don't want you leaving on your own." Tori pulled her hand away.

"But, I don't even know you." Gamora frowned.

"Well, I guess we'll get to know each other then." Tori smiled at her. She looked over at Peter, who was smiling back at the both of them. Gamora gestured for him to walk over to them.

"What do you say, Kid? Are you staying with us?" Peter asked as he sat next to Gamora. The two adults stared at the girl with hope in their eyes and a soft smile upon their lips.

She thought long and hard about it. _'What if this is a trick?'_ She thought. _'What if they bring me back to dad? Although, Gamora said she hated Thanos. It's clear that Rocket doesn't want me to stay. Did he really agree to this? What if my dad put a bounty on me? Would they bring me back to him for the money?'_ She didn't know why she was thinking like that. It was clear that Gamora had fallen deeply in love with the poor girl when she first locked eyes with her. She looked at the couple in front of her and smiled.

* * *

Peter walked into the meeting area and stood on the stairs that led up to the cockpit, where Rocket and Groot were piloting. "Hey, just to let you know, we have a new Guardian." He shouted up to them as he quickly made his exit.

"Quill!" Rocket shouted back. "I'm going to kill you when I put this on auto-pilot! Quill? Quill!" He glanced behind him to see that left.

Peter ran through the halls of the Milano until he bumped into someone. He looked underneath him to see something green staring back at him.

"Peter, what did you do now?" Gamora asked with an expressionless face.

He smirked. "I told Rocket and Groot about Tori."

"I thought we were going to tell all the guys together." She sighed, then laughed. "You act like such a child at times."

"I know but, you have to admit, you love me more when I act like a little kid." Gamora chuckled, pushed him off of her and switched their positions.

"I'm not going to admit that." She kissed him. "But, I do love you." She got off of him and helped him up. The two walked to the living area, where Tori was no where to be found.

"Where's Tori?" Peter asked looking around the room.

"She's getting settled in her cabin."

"We don't have an extra cabin." He asked confusedly.

"I let her have mine." Gamora said folding up the sheet Tori used the night before.

"Where are you gonna sleep?"

Gamora chuckled and set the folded sheet on the coffee table. She walked up to Peter and put her arms around his neck. "Where I always sleep."

"That's a big step. Are you sure?"

"Positive. I trust you, Peter."

Peter smiled at her and wrapped his arms around her waist as he pulled her closer. "You should've asked to move in with me. That was very rude on your part." He teased her.

"You were going to ask sooner or later." She replied with a smirk.

Peter laughed. "I won't deny that."

Rocket walked into the room just as they had finished their conversation. "Jesus!" He threw his arms up in the air and looked at the pair in disgust. His loud voice made the couple jump. "Get a room!" He yelled as he started to walk in the opposite direction.

"He needs a girlfriend." Gamora said with a chuckle.

"He has one. Her name is anything lethal and explosive." The pair chuckled for a minute. "Oh! Wait a sec." He pulled out of their embrace and walked over to his stereo. He placed Awesome Mix Vol. 2 in it and turned it up. A loud groan, that came from Rocket, filled the Milano, along with the upbeat lyrics of _September_.

Peter held out his hand for Gamora. "I'm not dancing."

"Why are you so stubborn? You dance all the time."

Gamora tried to hold her blush in, but couldn't. "I do not."

"When I play my music in the morning you do!" She scoffed. "When you are getting ready!" She playfully hit him upside the head.

"How did you know that?" She asked.

Blush filled both of Peter's cheeks. "I might have accidentally walked in on you, one day, when you were getting dressed." She raised another hand to his head. Peter caught it before she could slap him again and continued talking. "I gotta say, you have sexy hips!" Gamora laughed.

"You are so charming." As soon as he let go of her hand, she slapped him again. He grabbed both of her wrists and forced her to dance with him. She rolled her eyes playfully and let him pull her around the room.

The loud giggling of the two adults drew Tori towards them. She looked at them in confusion. "What are you doing?"

Peter let go of Gamora and ran up to Tori, picking her up and tossing her in the air. "We're dancing." He caught her and started to twirl her around the room. The sight made Gamora's heart melt and made her laugh at the same time. The three Guardians continued to dance until the music stopped.

"That was fun!" Tori announced, panting. "I've never danced in my whole life!" She giggled.

Peter's and Gamora's smiles turn to frowns as they looked at each other in concern.

"We should do that again, sometime!" She exclaimed, as she ran out of the room.

* * *

Peter and Gamora were facing each other in bed. His arm was wrapped around Gamora's stomach, while his other hand was intertwined with her's as she used it as a pillow. Her eyes were closed while his were still open in concern. "What's on your mind, Peter?" Gamora asked, with her eyes closed.

"How did you-"

"You move a lot when you are asleep; you are staying completely still right now. Plus, mods. I can sense that your eyes aren't shut."

"That's not creepy at all." Gamora opened her eyes and glared at him. "Fine. It still bothers me that Tori didn't even know what dancing was. I mean Ronan was a complete dumbass, so it didn't surprise me that he didn't know what dancing was, but Tori; she's a smart girl. Plus, she said she's never experienced what fun is like."

"She reminds me of myself when I was younger. I was about her age, maybe a little bit younger, when Thanos took me. Over those years, I forgot what having fun felt like and then I met you. You taught me what it felt like to have fun, again, maybe you can teach Tori, as well." She said with a hopeful smile.

Peter kissed her forehead. "We'll do it together." She smiled back at him. Soon enough, they were both able to fall back asleep.


End file.
